Must Love Dogs Review

Bottom-Line: Must Love Dogs is a so-so movie that is too short to be really meaningful.  I enjoyed it but, only marginally; it wasn't a total waste of time but close. 

So here it is Saturday night, my wife has left me to fend for myself to quilt of all things.  I must be getting boring in my old age!  Anyway thank god for Dish Network, HBO and the Saturday night movie.  Unfortunately the movie at hand was Must Love Dogs (2005), a purely formulaic (predictable) romantic comedy.  I usually do not waste my time on these types of movies because they lack excitement, light sabers, spaceships, battleships, submarines, F14's, copious fighting, or sex.  But for love of craft (Epinions review) I decided to watch; I was not overly impressed. 

Based on the novel by Claire Cook, her second; and directed by newcomer Gary David Goldberg Must Love Dogs follows Sarah portrayed by Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm, Under the Tuscan Sun) a recent divorcee (her husband left her for a younger woman), and preschool teacher, is continually prodded by her very large family to "get back in the game," but she demurs.  So Sarah's sister Carol portrayed by Elizabeth Perkins (About Last Night, Cats & Dogs) places an on-line ad on her behalf; a number of questionable prospects respond to the ad, which stipulates that that the suitor "must love dogs."  But Sarah meets one suitor-a recently divorced (wooden) boat builder, Jake portrayed by John Cusack (Say Anything, The Grifters).  Jake is high energy, a little quirky, but he shows promise.             

My Viewpoint

Must Love Dogs has very few amusing scenes; as I stated above the film is entirely formulaic and wholly predictable.  Sarah's large family lends some interest, but not much.  I have not read the book, so I cannot speak to how much the movie emulated it.  The script was a bit erratic; the scenes didn't really fit together enough to form a coherent and likable movie.  Sarah made a sympathetic character, but not sympathetic enough; there were a few emotionally charged scenes but not enough; Sarah and Jake clicked by why?  Their connection throughout the film was tenuous; the actors jelled, but the characters they were portraying never spend enough time together on screen to develop the deep feeling that was to form the nexus of the film.          

Diane Lane, whom I first saw in Lady Beware (1987) makes a convincing divorcee, after all she has been getting a lot of practice of late.  And I enjoyed John Cusack but he seems to play the same character over and over again; you know the witty, somewhat urbane, somewhat endearing emotional male.  In my mind Christopher Plummer (The Spiral Staircase, The Thornbirds, A Beautiful Mind) who portrayed Sarah's father Bill, stole this movie with his passionate recitations of poetry from the great masters.  We need to see more of him.  Stockard Channing (The Men's Club, The West Wing) also turns in a laudable performance as Dolly the lonely, aging sometimes paramour to Bill, who uses the Internet as her national singles bar.     

Final read: Must Love Dogs is a so-so movie that is too short to be really meaningful.  I enjoyed it but, only marginally.  The movie wasn't a total waste of time but close.